The BreadCast

O martyr of the Lord extraordinaire who suffered unspeakable torture but was not bowed by such savagery, who spoke of great faith, singing of God's glory even as your limbs were crushed, even as all the brutality the world could inflict sought to break your spirit – help us to conquer the world as you have done, as the Lord has done in you, not to be afraid but rather to serve our Savior and His Cross in joy as His blessed disciples; pray we, too, shall enter the heavenly gates open to those in whom the Spirit speaks even unto death.

(1Sm.24:3-21; Ps.57:2-4,6,11; Mk.3:13-19) "Sovereignty over Israel shall come into your possession." Today we see David at perhaps his most humble and obedient in the sight of God – we see why he is the great king of Israel. David is being hunted down by Saul once again in his jealousy. His psalm, our psalm today, is his cry for protection from the Lord in whom he trusts: "I call to God Most High, to God, my benefactor. May He send from heaven and save me." To the cave in which he hides, God sends his pursuer, vulnerable and at arm's length. But this man who will be king of the Israelites by God's ordination refrains from taking the sword into his hand to kill the man who would kill him. Why? Because Saul is yet the king, "the Lord's anointed," whom David even calls "a father to me" despite the threat he is to his life. Such an act of respect, such an understanding of the obedience due God and His will is unparalleled in Scripture. This is David. This is the king. And how tragic a figure is Saul. Upon having his eyes turned inward to his very soul and the injustice he wreaks upon David, he weeps aloud in recognition of his sin: "You are in the right rather than I; you have treated me generously, while I have done you harm." It is he who speaks the words of our quote today, he who recognizes the truly kingly nature of David… Yet for all his penance and insight it shall not be long before his jealousy leads him to pursue David unrighteously once again. He cannot escape his envy for David's blessing. And in our gospel we read of the blessed apostles of Christ, those "men He Himself had decided on," whom He summoned and "who came and joined Him." These "He would send to preach the Good News"; these would "have authority to expel demons." They are named by name for us today: here is the foundation of the Church in which God dwells. Here are His blessed kings of the New Jerusalem. Let us not be jealous of them. Let no man attempt to breach the authority given them; for pursue them as one would, none shall take their blessing away – it is they who are ordained by God for His service. Humbly let us join them in their sovereignty over Israel. Obediently let us come into the Lord's kingdom. ******* O LORD, though your justice is beyond our reach, in your mercy make us your disciples. YHWH, those whom you appoint must be respected. It is you who anoint the king and ordain apostles. Jesus is your only Son and He has chosen the Twelve to follow Him. Who are we to go against His will and pursue them and those who continue in their stead? O LORD, you have made Peter the rock of your Church and given all your apostles power to preach the Gospel and expel all demons. At their hands your presence becomes real, of your Son's flesh and blood we partake, and we are forgiven our sins. If David your chosen could not kill an unjust king because of your blessing upon him, how much less can we usurp the power of the bishops and priests who stand this day in the very place of Jesus? O let us learn the respect and obedience to your will that King David has clearly shown! You protect your righteous ones, dearest LORD and God. And so we need have no fear as long as we take refuge in your justice.

(1Sm.18:6-9,19:1-7; Ps.56:2-3,5,9-14; Mk.3:7-12) "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." And Jesus His millions. He slays an untold number of "unclean spirits [who] would catch sight of Him, fling themselves down at His feet, and shout, 'You are the Son of God.'" "A great crowd followed Him from Galilee, and an equally great multitude" from all the surrounding regions. So great were their numbers He needed a boat to escape the press upon Him. For He "cured many," and many more desired to be touched by Him. The women sing of David's greatness upon his return from slaying the Philistine. Their rightful attribution of praise for David, through whom "the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel" and so for its king (who had himself sought someone to stand against the giant Goliath), does nothing but provoke resentment and jealousy from King Saul. His anger even leads to his plotting to kill the man who has saved his kingdom; and though he sets aside his plan "of shedding innocent blood by killing David without cause" for the moment, the plot never leaves his heart and shall repeatedly surface with greater intensity. Thus Saul proves his inability to serve as king of the Lord's people. Thus his pride shall be his demise. And rightfully does Saul claim of David that "all that remains for him is the kingship," for in fact he has already been anointed king in place of Saul by Samuel the prophet. And though as with the kingship of Jesus, who silences the demons from revealing "who He was," David's crown shall remain hidden for a time, inevitably – again, as with the Lord's reign – those who "press their attack against" the Lord's anointed shall be turned back and the true king shall "walk before God in the light of the living." It is inevitable for it is God's will, and neither the jealousy of Saul nor the plotting of the Pharisees – the jealous kings who would be overthrown by Jesus – can turn aside what God has ordained. The Lord is with David. Though his "adversaries trample upon [him] all the day," he sings in praise of God in his psalm: "You have rescued me from death." And so we see how our psalms sing of Jesus Himself and why He is called Son of David. For the greatest victory the Lord God shall achieve will be the resurrection of His Son from the dead, and the redemption of the many souls who shall follow Him. ******* O LORD, we press upon you with our afflictions, and by your Son's intercession we are saved. YHWH, how many evil spirits have you slain? How many enemies have you turned back for those who trust in your NAME? Though many fight against us, we are saved when we call out to you – forever we shall be safe from the malice of the wicked. Your Son has come to our shores and cured us of our afflictions. By His grace He has freed us from all sin and evil. His power is greater than that of the devil though the devil sit on the throne of a king. For the spirit is greater than the flesh, and trusting in your Spirit, O LORD, we are released from the weakness of the flesh upon which the devil preys and made victorious in your NAME. Thousands may we too slay if we keep our vows to you and in you find our strength. Then on the Day of your Son's return, the angels shall sing of the glory which is ours in you and in Him, O LORD, as we enter your reign.

O holy virgin martyr, O innocent child who offered your life more freely than a bride to her husband, more courageously than a warrior in battle, who though lacking in years was not lacking in faith nor desire to honor your only Spouse… you who were honored by the Fathers of the Church and are remembered to this day as a holy offering, a lamb of God sacrificed in flames yet professing ever your love for Christ – but a small measure of your courage would save our souls. Pray but a drop of His blood we may know falling from our veins.

(1Sm.17:32-33,37,40-51; Ps.144:1-2,9-10; Mk.3:1-6) "You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord." "The battle is the Lord's" is the simple truth David proclaims to all those who stand in arms. To "all this multitude," he declares "that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves." Thus with David's defeat of the Philistine giant is emphasized what has already been revealed in the anointing of this ruddy youth as king and the loss of that kingship by the tall-in-stature Saul: the exalted are humbled and the humbled exalted. For God blesses those who make Him their "rock," trusting not in their own wealth or strength. "My refuge and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust, who subdues peoples under me," David chants in praise of the Lord in his holy psalm. And so should we all take refuge in the Lord, and find strength in praising His Name. And in "hoping to be able to bring an accusation against Him," do not the Pharisees come, too, with sword and spear against God's holy one today in our gospel? And do they not make this violence clear in their turning "to plot with the Herodians on how they might destroy Him"? They are defeated in battle by the Word of truth which issues forth and indeed is embodied by the Christ of God, Jesus, Son of David, Son of God. They cannot contradict the authority of His teaching or the blessing of the healing He brings from the Father on high, but yet they harden their hearts and close "their minds against Him," seeking to confirm their trust in the warring hand of this world in the capture and crucifixion of their Savior. But the battle is the Lord's, and their attempts to destroy Him shall prove the fruitlessness of such trust in violence – indeed, their killing Him with sword and spear shall be the instrument which leads to His resurrection, bringing the dawn of new life in whose light death itself, and the pride of man, shall be destroyed forever. Let all know it is the Lord who fights for those whom He loves, those who trust in Him and His ways, who seek to do good and not evil, to "preserve life" and not "destroy it." The question Jesus poses to the Pharisees He presents to us: do we cherish the saving power of the Lord of life and take refuge and joy in Him, or do we reach for the weapons at our side to destroy Him? The posturing of this world is vain, for it is God who holds life and death in His Hand. ******* O LORD, you save us from the clutches of evil men. YHWH, the battle is yours. You strengthen our hands against the enemy and give victory to your chosen ones. Despite the plots of those who surround us with evil intent, despite the might of the armies arrayed against us, you give confidence to those who trust in you, for with you the faithful soul triumphs over the powers of this world. You deliver us in the day of battle, dear God; you are our refuge, our stronghold, and by your hand we destroy those who come at us with closed minds and hardened hearts, railing against your holy One. They cannot stand before your awesome power – their swords and spears are broken by the Word that issues from your mouth. The head of the snake shall be cut off, crushed by the feet of your lowly ones, and we shall sing your praise, O LORD. Forever we shall be preserved from the violence of the enemy.

O soldier for Christ who sought with such courage to embrace His Cross, to die a death worthy of such a Lord, you whose heart was so set on imitating the suffering only He knew and so were rewarded with the crown of martyrdom – where is our courage; where is our strength? Pray for us, O warrior of our Lord and God, that our lives may bear witness to approach your own, that we shall not shrink from the Cross before us but with your same zeal seek to make it our own. Pray the blood of Christ upon us.

O Holy Father of the Church, Pastor of the sheep of our Lord who have given your life freely for the name of Christ and its spreading throughout the earth, you whose blood was shed by the persecutors of the body but whose soul was ever in the Hand of God – pray our lives shall be lived in integrity and our death correspond, that a blessed witness we too shall give to the glory of God and His Son Jesus Christ, and so lead others to that same glory. May none of the flock or their shepherds fear the sacrifice of their lives.

(1Sm.16:1-13; Ps.89:20-22,27-28; Mk.2:23-28) "Man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart." Indeed, how different the vision of God from the vision of man, and how well the Lord illustrates this in His rejection of Saul and His choosing of David. When Samuel sees Eliab, whose appearance and "lofty stature" are reminiscent of Saul, even this great seer is blinded by his eyes and must be directed by God to look beyond what is apparent to his sight. All seven sons brought to the feast are rejected by the Lord, and the youngest, "who is tending the sheep," must be sent for. Jesse, his father, did not think David worthy of coming to the sacrificial banquet, but it is he who is the centerpiece of the celebration. This ruddy youth is the one chosen by the eyes of God. And lest we think that there is some kind of diametrical opposition between physical beauty and interior loveliness, we must note that David is not ugly to behold and the Lord does not choose him for a poor appearance. He too was "handsome… and making a splendid appearance." But the beauty of David finds its source not in the skin but in a heart set on God, and it is this faithfulness and dedication to Him upon which the Lord gazes and, so, chooses, and not upon the curls falling around his face. David's appearance is beautiful because his soul is beautiful, and his soul is beautiful because it finds its life in God. And so, from the day of his anointing by Samuel, God's prophet, "the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David" and there remained, for it had found its proper home. In our gospel we have a quote like unto the one separated out for this day, and expressive of a similar lesson: "The Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath," Jesus tells the Pharisees critical of His disciples picking, peeling, and eating heads of grain on the Lord's Day. For what do the Pharisees do but judge the law by its appearance alone, and fail to look into its heart. The law is indeed beautiful to behold and was made for man for his benefit, to draw him close to God; but how far from its purpose these leaders of the people have come, and so, how distant from the Lord they stand – unable to recognize Him as He stands before them. The sabbath itself was made for man's rest and refreshment from labor, and yet when the disciples of Christ pick and eat to allay their hunger, to find refreshment for their failing bodies, these Pharisees deem it evil. Again one wonders how they can be so blind. Again it is apparent that they are unable to see beyond the surface. Empty indeed are their hearts. As He has done for David, the Lord makes us strong, makes us fruitful and beautiful. He blesses our works as the works of this "highest of the kings of the earth," if those works are founded in Christ. If we truly say with David, "You are my father, my God, the rock, my savior," the Lord will hear us, and finding His presence in our hearts, He will bless us, even as His only Son. ******* O LORD, your Spirit be with us as with David, as with Jesus. YHWH, give us eyes to see what you see, hearts to understand your will. Your Spirit dwell within us that we might be as your Chosen One. O LORD, as we are presented before you, may we be acceptable in your sight. Let our hearts not be hardened to your Word but anointed by your Son's blood. O that we might call you our Father and know Jesus as our Savior! Give us your Wisdom that we might radiate your beauty to all who look upon us this day. David you blessed, dear God, as king of kings, as the child upon whom your favor rested. Is He not the figure of your only Son? In Him do we not see presaged the Christ who would be Lord even of the Sabbath? And are we not called to be joined to Him, to have His anointing upon us this day, His Spirit to guide us in all things? Let us be fed by your Anointed, O LORD, that His crown might be upon our heads, that our eyes might be open to His glory.

(1Sm.15:16-23; Ps.50:8-9,16-17,21,23; Mk.2:18-22) "Does the Lord so delight in holocausts and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord? The answer to the question Samuel puts to Saul is, in a word, "No." "Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams." Nothing does the Lord deem greater than our hearing and heeding His Word, than our obedience to His will. And nothing will save us, nothing will preserve our place in His kingdom like our doing what He asks of us. Saul loses his kingship for his disobedience to the command of the Lord. The Lord has told him to destroy the enemy he invades and all that belongs to them. Saul retains some of the animals to bring back for sacrifice to God. Why waste them? Why not honor God with them? Reasonable thoughts to the human mind, but not the will of God. And in heeding these thoughts is revealed the seed of Saul's rebellion against God, which will lead to his attempts to destroy the king (David) the Lord has chosen to replace him, and end in his own suicide. How prone the human mind is to favor its own counsels against those of God. How foolish seem submission and obedience, especially when they go against our own logic. But David will show the humility God desires in those He would bless. "To him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God," He promises us. David will be one who does not hate the discipline of the Lord or cast His words behind his back. When all justification is present for his killing Saul, who hunts down God's chosen like an animal, he forgoes every opportunity, respecting his pursuer as God's anointed. How different his attitude from Saul's, he who "rejected the command of the Lord" by taking matters in his own soiled hands. The blessing obedience is, the transcendent joy of joining oneself to the will of the Lord, is evident in our gospel as well, in Jesus' teaching that "new wine is poured into new skins" and not old. Fasting is a blessed sacrifice provided by the law and by God. But as wholesome as this practice, or any other religious observance, can be, it does not supersede being present to the Lord. If we are not present to Him, all our works become empty. The disciples are so close to Jesus, so happy to be in His company, it is as if they have stepped into heaven – and so how can the law's prescription for fasting touch them in a place where fasting is no longer necessary? Indeed, they shall fast upon His death, and we know our great saints have performed great fasts and sacrifices in the Name of the Lord and for His glory… but first the grace of God must be with us all, or all becomes empty show. It is the new wine of which we drink now, brothers and sisters; it is the Word become whole which is ours. Let us now be obedient to the Lord's command, and all we do will be joy for us and for our God. ******* O LORD, make of us new wineskins that we might bear your Word within ourselves. YHWH, let us not question your Word or your will but walk in your way, for only by such obedience will we find salvation. Let us not pull away from you or presume our thoughts above your own. For in such foolishness we shall surely die – how can we remain if rejected by you? And surely shall our rejection come if we fail to listen to your command and do your bidding. For your command is life to us, O LORD, and following in your way our means to glory; thus we will be without hope if we turn from your discipline. Let us listen to Jesus, Him whom you have sent as Bridegroom among us. In His presence our hearts rejoice, and apart from Him we can only fast. But in feasting and in sacrifice He is our treasure; Him do we love. And so, let us be obedient to His teaching, LORD, that your blessing we might ever find.

(Is.49:3,5-6; Ps.40:2,4,7-10; 1Cor.1:1-3; Jn.1:29-34) "I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!" John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is "the Son of God," the One upon whom he has seen "the Spirit come down and remain." And we are all His servants, made holy only in Him. John declares his own servitude, speaking of "the one who sent [him] to baptize with water," and stating, "A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because He existed before me." His witness to Jesus and the strength he takes from Him is clear, as is the case with St. Paul, who declares himself "called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God," and goes on to say that, indeed, all the Church is "called to be holy" in Jesus Christ. This call from the Lord to be His servant, and that it is through His servants the Lord shows His glory, is prophesied in strength by Isaiah in our first reading, showing that even before Christ came to be born among us He indeed existed and through Him the Father called His servants, His children, to Himself. For Isaiah speaks for God, saying, "I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." Here he speaks of Jesus; here he knows even in his time of the salvation the Lord brings. And David in our psalm echoes the same theme of the servitude of Christ and the servitude in Christ to which all are called, and which acts as a light to this world. "Ears open to obedience you gave me," proclaims the great and humble king, and sings as if in the voice of Christ: "In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!" What great blessing it indeed is to share in the servitude of Jesus, to have His song placed in our mouths, to make our lives "a hymn to our God." He makes us His own and we share in the blood that flows through His veins when we place ourselves in the service of the Lord. The Lord calls. He is among us now and has made His salvation known. Through the prophets, through the Baptist, through His apostles and martyrs and saints – through "all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" He reveals His glory day to day. It is His desire that we be strong in Him as we join to Him and are baptized by Him with the Holy Spirit. His grace and peace He would leave with us, His glory He would reveal through us, if His servants we would make ourselves this day. Find your strength in Him, brothers and sisters. He stoops toward you and hears your cry, and will instill His song of praise in your hearts, to be declared to all the world. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Miracle" from Listening to the Lamp, ninth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, may we all testify that Jesus is the Son of God; by Him may all souls be saved. YHWH, ears open to obedience give us that we might be your servants, that we might be as the Body of your only Son, doing your will in all things, ever making Him known. Let all we do testify to His presence in our midst that salvation may come to all men, even to the ends of the earth. Your apostles, your prophets, please make us, crying out your way, calling all to holiness in the Lamb of God. Jesus is the One who is greater than us, greater than any man who has walked this earth, for only He is your Son, dear God; only He sanctifies the human race by His blessed sacrifice. Let our lips not be restrained, but let us declare His glory to all souls. You have stooped toward us, O LORD; through Jesus you have shown us your glory. Your Servant you have called and sent among us that we all might become your servants in Him. O let your law be so in our hearts and the doing of your will our delight! Alleluia!